Civil Rights Activist Dorothy Height Dies At 98

Civil rights pioneer and the longtime head of the National Council For Negro Women Dorothy Height passed away this morning at the age of 98.

The NCNW made the announcement this morning confirming that their former leader died early today of natural causes.

Ms. Height was at the forefront of the civil rights movement alongside Martin Luther King Jr. as the only woman on stage during his revered “I Have A Dream” speech while pushing for racial and gender equality.

She was the President of the National Council For Negro Women for 40 years before giving up her title in 1997.

The 4 million member group has members in 34 national and 250 community-based organizations and was founded by Height’s mentor Mary McLeod Bethune.

Height received an onslaught of praise from her peers including the late activist C. Delores Tucker who once described her saying,

“I call Rosa Parks the mother of the civil rights movement, Dorothy Height is the queen.”

She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton in 1994.